


The Trials of Parenting

by NitroJen



Category: Captive Prince - C. S. Pacat
Genre: AU- with kids, Damen is a single dad, Kidfic, Laurent is a preschool teacher, M/M, Very fluffy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-19
Updated: 2016-12-19
Packaged: 2018-09-09 20:58:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,086
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8911729
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NitroJen/pseuds/NitroJen
Summary: For the Captive Prince Secret SantaA short little fic with Damen as a single dad and Laurent as a preschool teacher.





	

Lyla was never the reason why, on the occasional bad day, Damen would miss the mother of his daughter. In fact, Damen had lucked out with his daughter. She seemed to have her father’s courage and her mother’s wit. Damen would always smile as she took in her surroundings and made up little games for herself to play on the playground. 

It was always other parents that made Damen hate his status as a single parent. Lyla didn’t mind when Damen struggled to put her hair into tiny pigtails. She never complained when Damen couldn’t put a matching outfit together, and she never judged him when he would forget about a casserole in the oven. She would always wrap her tiny arms around him and kiss his cheek. 

Impressing other parents and proving that he was competent as a father always felt like an uphill battle for Damen. He was on the playground one day watching Lyla when one of those battles started. A little boy with cherubic cheeks and dark curls went up to where Lyla was and just pushed her over. Lyla was normally pretty hearty, she had handled falls with grace, but the little boy must have said something because Lyla opened her mouth and started wailing. 

Damen rushed over to Lyla, comforting her as the little boy watched. Lyla muttered something about being pushed over and being told her outfit wasn’t pretty when Damen turned to the little boy. 

“You do not just push people over,” Damen scolded him. “Do you understand?”

The little boy crossed his arms. “She was in my way.”

“Then you ask politely,” Damen told him. “Apologize.”

Lyla was sniffling against Damen’s shoulder, as he held her close in his arms. 

“Who exactly are you,” a smooth voice said behind him. “And why exactly do you think you have the right to discipline my son?”

Damen turned and was met with the most beautiful face he’d ever seen in his life. The features were sharp, but delicate, and the man’s hair was stylishly cut. He was the most put together man Damen had ever seen in his life and he was gorgeous.

“He pushed my daughter over for no reason,” Damen said as he straightened up to his full height, towering over the stranger. “Then he insulted her outfit.”

“It is an ugly outfit,” the kid said and Lyla started wailing again in Damen’s ear. Before the man could respond, Damen shook his head.

“You are the reason his behavior is a problem,” Damen told the handsome stranger as he rubbed Lyla’s back. “You should be ashamed of yourself.” 

It took Damen an ice cream cone, Lyla’s favorite movie, her favorite dinner, and a bubble bath for Lyla to calm down after what had happened at the playground. Lyla was starting preschool the next day and the incident had only made Lyla more anxious about her first day. Damen even had to video call Nikandros in order to get confirmation from him that Lyla’s planned outfit for the next day was perfect. 

When Lyla was fast asleep, Damen stayed awake and stared at his ceiling. He was doing the best he could for his daughter, he really was. Damen had signed her up at one of the more expensive preschools in the area because he wanted her to get the best education he could. The last thing he wanted was for Lyla to start her first day on the wrong foot because of a small playground incident. 

Damen woke up early the next morning and made Lyla pancakes with happy faces made of fruit. He helped her get dressed and styled her hair in pigtails with the pom pom hair scrunchies she liked. They headed out the door right on time, Damen carrying Lyla’s backpack, double checking it to make sure she had everything she would need for her first day. 

The preschool Damen had selected was on the nice side of town. The parking lot was filled with differently colored range rovers and expensive mini vans. A few moms were outside in front sitting on one of the picnic benches sipping coffee and laughing as their kids played nearby. Damen knew he would stand out in his pickup truck, but he kept his chin held high as he and Lyla walked into the building.

There was a sign pointing out where all the classrooms were and Damen followed the one to Mr. DeVere’s classroom. The door was covered with a giant paper tree, students names on the leaves and a note on how the students in this classroom would grow and flourish. Damen stepped inside and he froze when he saw the man standing in the center of the room talking to a small group of parents. 

It was the handsome stranger from yesterday. Damen could feel the familiar bubble of anger inside him. Of course it was just his luck that Lyla’s preschool teacher would be the same guy on the playground whose son made Lyla have a breakdown the day before. 

“Hello,” the man said, voice much softer now as he approached Lyla, who was hiding behind Damen’s legs. “My name is Mr. DeVere, you must be Lyla.”

Lyla nodded and whispered a faint hello. 

“How about I show you and your father to your cubby so you can set your things down?”

 

“Okay,” Lyla said. 

Mr. DeVere straightened, “Damianos I presume?”

“Yes,” Damen said, trying not to let on that he was angry, if Lyla knew he was upset, there was no way she’d stay in school today. 

“Wonderful, you and I can have a word when Lyla and I are finished putting her things away.”

Damen looked around the classroom while he waited. It was full of all the things Damen had imagined and more when he pictured Lyla here. There were calendars and clocks, easels, books, toys, and more. Every wall was adorned with images that were motivational or traught something like shapes or colors. This classroom was like heaven for a five year old and Damen hated how perfect it was. 

“I have to apologize for the way we met yesterday afternoon,” Mr. DeVere said when he rejoined Damen. Lyla was with a small group of children that Mr. DeVere had introduced her to. She was still curling in on herself a bit, but Damen could see she was on the way to opening up to them. 

“Alright then,” Damen said as he turned back to Mr. DeVere.

“I apologize for how I came across. Nicaise is my son and he’s a bit troubled. Normally, I wouldn’t have a problem with the way you treated the situation yesterday but Nicaise has to be handled differently in almost every situation. Yesterday, I didn’t approach the situation as well as I should have and I’m deeply sorry for that.”

Damen was a little speechless about the length of the apology. He wasn’t sure he believed the explanation completely, but he’d accept it for now. 

“I understand,” Damen said. “And I’m sure you get how it is to be protective of kids.”

Mr. DeVere smiled and Damen felt like it filled something in his chest that had always been empty. He hated how someone he was willing to fight with just a few minutes ago was now making him want to swoon, but he pushed the feelings away and looked back towards Lyla. 

Damen spent a better part of the next few weeks crushing on Mr. DeVere. Laurent, which was what he insisted parents call him, loved the kids in his classroom and Damen could tell by the way Lyla described their classes every day. She would bring home drawings a couple of times a week and Damen was always happy to put them on the fridge. 

While Damen missed the time he used to have with his daughter during the day, he was happy to hear she was making friends. It was also nice to know that Laurent wasn’t the asshole that he had been when he’d first seen Damen on the playground. 

One day when Damen was picking Lyla up, Laurent actually pulled him aside. 

“I’m not sure if Lyla’s mentioned it,” Laurent said. “But Nicaise is in her class and he and Lyla have become friends.”

“She’s mentioned it a few times,” Damen said. 

“I think Lyla has been good for him,” Laurent said. “She shows him how to do things sometimes and she knows how to explain it in ways that Nicaise can understand. I understand if I’m crossing any lines, but I think it would be beneficial for them to have a playdate.”

Damen thought about it for a few moments. “Alright,” he said as he pulled out his phone and handed it to Laurent. 

That was how on Saturday, Damen and Lyla ended up at a small line of townhomes a few minutes away from the preschool. Damen parked his truck where Laurent had instructed him to and he helped Lyla out of the car and over to the townhome that belonged to Laurent. He knocked on the door and Laurent answered a few moments later, Nicaise peeking out from behind his legs. Laurent’s legs were slim and didn’t do much to hide the Nicaise, but Nicaise didn’t seem to care as he peeked up at Damen with wide blue eyes. 

“Come in, come in,” Laurent said as he waved them inside and shut the door behind them. 

The townhouse was clean and neatly decorated, but with just enough toys and pictures painted by young hands to indicate that there was a child living there too. Damen helped Lyla out of her shoes so she could go running after Nicaise and then he and Laurent were alone. 

“So,” Damen said as he stuck his hands in his pockets. 

“Come in,” Laurent said. “I was just making snacks, you can help if you’d like.”

“Sure,” Damen said as he pulled his boots off and followed Laurent up the stairs to the kitchen. “So how long have you been teaching?” Damen asked. 

“About six years,” Laurent said. “I started right out of college.”

“Nice,” Damen said. Laurent handed him a bowl of chocolate chips. 

“Put those on top of those,” he said as he pointed. “What is it that you do again?”

“I’m an architect,” Damen said. “My friend and I run a small company.”

“That explains why Lyla loves building things so much then,” Laurent said as he sliced up some apples. The fact that Laurent knew Lyla so well was almost a surprise, and then Damen remembered he was Lyla’s preschool teacher. 

“Yeah,” Damen said with a small smile. “I guess it does.” 

He and Laurent made small talk while they finished up the rest of the snacks. He learned Laurent had an older brother that lived a few towns over and that Nicaise wasn’t Laurent’s biological son, but Laurent would fight as hard as he could to make sure Nicaise had the best of everything.

“It’s nice to meet someone that understands,” Damen said after they’d dropped off the snacks. Lyla and Nicaise were in the playroom while Damen and Laurent talked in the living room nearby. “Being a single parent is hard, but sometimes the struggle of being a single dad feels like ten times that. Sometimes people don’t even think Lyla is mine and that hurts so much sometimes.”

“I know,” Laurent said. “People think we lack something that we very clearly have. Just because we’re men doesn’t mean we don’t love and care for our children more than anything else.” 

“Would you like to go out sometime?” Damen asked. It had been something he’d been thinking about for the past few hours. After they’d broken through the initial wall, words had flowed between them in a chemistry that Damen wanted to explore more of. 

“Normally because you’re a parent of a student in my class, I could say no,” Laurent said. “But I suppose because your oafishness has a slight charm to it, I’ll give you a chance.”

 

“Really?” Damen asked, hopeful smile lighting up his features. 

Laurent looked at him for a long moment. “Yes, really. You can take me out to coffee one time and we’ll see how things go. Anyways, I think you’ll be the first to understand when I say Nicaise comes first.” 

“Of course,” Damen replied. 

Laurent went back to what they were talking about, ignoring the way Damen smiled like a goofball for the rest of the day.


End file.
